"Ben" Oumar Sy (8 January 192625 August 2001) was a Malian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er and football manager. He was the first ever manager for

Stade Malien Stade Malien is a Malian professional football and sports club based in Bamako. One of the two dominant clubs of Malian football, their eastern Bamako training grounds host other sports as well, including a successful basketball club. Football ...

and the Mali national team.

Career

Sy began playing football with Jeanne d'Arc in

French Sudan French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

in the 1940s, and with them won the

French West African Cup The French West African Cup or Coupe d'Afrique Occidentale Française was a football tournament between clubs of the former French Western African territories. This area comprised the current states of Benin (then Dahomey), Burkina Faso (then Ha ...

twice in 1953 and 1956 before retiring shortly after. He received the nickname "Ben" in reference to the then famed Moroccan-French footballer Larbi Benbarek. In 1960, his old club ''Jeanne d'Arc'' and ''l’Espérance de Médine'' merged creating

, and Sy was appointed their first ever manager. In 1961, he helped Stade Malien win the first ever

Malian Cup The Coupe du Mali Orange for sponsorship reasons is the top knockout tournament of the Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar ...

in 1961. In 1965, he took the team to the final of the first ever

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

, where they lost to

Oryx Douala Oryx Club de Douala is a football club from Douala, Cameroon, that achieved most of its success in the 1960s. It won the inaugural African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1964 beating Stade Malien on a score of 2–1 in the final, and so becoming the f ...

. In 1962, he was also appointed the first ever manager for the Mali football team after their independence in 1960. He managed the Mali national team and Stade Malien simultaneously for 4 years. After taking the team to the

1965 All-Africa Games The 1st All-Africa Games – Brazzaville 1965 was a multi-sport event played from July 18, 1965, to July 25, 1965, in Brazzaville, Congo. History The first games to open to the entire African continent occurred a full forty years after they wer ...

, in 1966 he left the team to focus on Stade Malien. He managed Stade Malien until 1975, when he retired. Sy died on August 25, 2001, at the age 75. He was buried the next day, and on the same day Stade Malien won their 16th Malian Cup. The Super Coupe National du Mali is formally named after him, as is the best sports high school in Mali ''Lycée Sportif Ben Omar Sy''.

Honours

Player

Jeanne d'Arc *

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

Manager

Stade Malien *

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

* Malian Première Division: 1969–1970

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diallo, Kidian 1926 births 2001 deaths Footballers from Bamako Malian men's footballers Malian football managers Mali national football team managers Stade Malien players Men's association football midfielders